Um estudo etnobotânico sobre plantas medicinais com base nos saberes de um grupo de alunos da Educação de Jovens e Adultos

Abstract

The human species carries in its cultural history a series of knowledge and information that have been handed down from generation to generation and therefore they are present until today in many types of communities. Practices with medicinal plants are an example of the fact that the human beings have always sought, in their natural environment, elements that would help them to have a better quality of life. Studies focused on cultural traditions can act in the school in order to value the ethnobotanical knowledge brought by the youth and adult education (EJA) students. In this perspective, a study situation was made up with the objective to identify the knowledge and the use of medicinal plants of EJA students from a school of the Paraíba country region. The used method will be the qualitative research. Data will be collected through historical narratives, in which eight participants, male and female, with age range 38-78 years, will participate in an interview on a voluntary basis, narrating and responding to their knowledge and use of medicinal plants in their daily lives. The interview will be recorded so that the data are stored and they can be objectively and deeply evaluated and analyzed. Through the narratives, it is expected to identify from where the ethnobotanical knowledge was acquired, how they are used in their practices and for what purposes the medicinal plants are used by these students. The study situation considers that studying and knowing medicinal plants allow us to approach the students´ ethnobotanical knowledge and their family roots, as well as being an opportunity to encourage them to reflect on their life trajectory and to emphasize the importance of their knowledge for the school.